Worthy of All of It
MD14 — Fort Wayne FC vs Spokane Velocity FC — 2026
Match Recap & Analysis
Fort Wayne FC marks the formal opening of Ruoff Mortgage Stadium with a 3-0 Independence Day win over Spokane Velocity FC, as Taig Healy becomes the club’s all-time leading scorer and the unbeaten run reaches 11 matches.
Fort Wayne FC 3 – 0 Spokane Velocity FC · USL League One 🏟 Ruoff Mortgage Stadium, Fort Wayne, Ind. 📅 July 4, 2026 ⚽ Taig Healy (14’), Jeremy Garay (44’), Lilian Ricol (48’ pen.) 📋 FWFC Record: 6-2-6 · 24 pts · Matchday 14
The Match
The Fourth of July at Ruoff Mortgage Stadium began with a ribbon-cutting to mark the ground’s formal opening and ended with fireworks over Bass Road. In between, a season-high crowd of 4,493 watched Fort Wayne Football Club deliver the most complete ninety of its professional era.
Michael Rempel, ever-present through the club’s first professional season, was missing from the squad, and Jayden Smith replaced him at left back. Spokane, on two days’ rest after a midweek home loss, unveiled a back three that struggled to find its new defensive shape.
The opener came in the 14th min. from a sequence that started at Fort Wayne’s own corner flag. Eight passes later, Jack Thomas slipped the final ball to Taig Healy, whose finish, his 9th of the season in all competitions, made him the club’s all-time leading scorer across its League Two and League One eras. In the 44th min., Javier Armas stripped the ball from Spokane midfielder Collin Fernandez near the half, carried it to the top of the box, and fed Lilian Ricol wide. Ricol’s cross popped up off Kabiru Gafar’s boot, and Jeremy Garay finished the bouncing ball for his first goal in a Fort Wayne FC shirt.
Spokane opened the second half with a triple substitution and a new shape, but the reset lasted three minutes: a handball in the area let Ricol make it 3-0 from the spot in the 48th min. From there Spokane held most of the ball and never put a shot on target. Bernd Schipmann’s clean sheet, his 6th of the season and the 33rd of his USL League One career, came without a save to make. The unbeaten run now stands at 11 matches, the second-longest by a first-year club in League One history and one short of the record Lansing Ignite set in 2019.
The Defender’s Verdict
The break did what a break should. Two weeks off can dull a team’s edge, and there was none of that rust on Saturday. What I saw instead was a starting XI coming into focus: Jack Thomas wide left, Kabiru Gafar wide right, and Taig Healy pulling the creative strings at the #10. Behind them, Javier Armas and Jeremy Garay are finding a rhythm as a pairing, and that’s a good sign for the months ahead. We missed Michael Rempel, but Jayden Smith stepped in and looked settled in the left back role he originally joined the club to play. His development is best served exactly like this: learning behind Rempel and focusing on the defensive side of the game first. We already know he can get forward.
I have less tactical analysis to offer this week, and that’s a compliment. It was a good performance, start to finish. The honest caveat is that this gets tested once opponents have the skill to score from possession. Spokane couldn’t break us down, and that’s proving to be a winning recipe: get a lead, then let the backline frustrate the opposition.
It was a night of unveilings. A new mascot. A new nickname, with the broadcast calling Fort Wayne FC “The Bees” for the first time I’ve heard. And I was hopeful a big announcement would be Fort Wayne native Akil Watts, but I suppose we’ll have to wait for that one. Around the league, the top League One clubs are solidifying their second-half runs with loan deals from upper-division sides, and so far there’s been nothing from the Fort Wayne FC camp. One or two additions would put us over the top. But it’s feeling like an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” halfway point, and the second half will tell us whether that was wisdom or a missed window.
Saturday felt like a club growing into itself. The ribbon got cut, the seats are finally in, and the place looks every bit the best stadium in this league. On the pitch, we have a team playing football worthy of all of it. It was a good night.
Always FWD